John Cleary: Back to the drawing board for Cork footballers

CORK manager John Cleary offered no excuses for his side’s shock 0-14 to 0-13 defeat by Clare in the quarter-final of the Munster Senior Football Championship at Cusack Park, Ennis, yesterday.

It was Clare’s first victory over the Rebels since 1997 and leaves the Rebels looking over their shoulders at events in Leinster and Ulster to be guaranteed their place in the new-look All-Ireland.

In a must-win encounter for the home side, Clare can now look forward to a semi-final with neighbours Limerick while holders Kerry meet Tipperary in the other last-four tie.

“At 0-9 to 0-5, we had a small bit of a cushion, but the game was up for grabs and it was Clare who took it by the scruff of the neck,” said Cleary.

“At the end we could have maybe scraped a draw or got over the line there in the end, but in the second half when the game was there for the taking, Clare went and took it. That's why they are victorious.

Clare upped their game and we couldn't live with them. 

"They had 14 wides, so we can have no complaints or hard luck stories. We might have nicked it there in the end, but overall Clare were probably the better team.

“It’s back to the drawing board for us now. We are disappointed, but fair play to Clare.” 

Clare adapted a very defensive approach from the start and this frustrated Cork, who also struggled with their own kick-outs and those of Clare, too.

“We tried to push up on them but they picked us off on both sets of kick-outs. We have had better days on that front, definitely.” 

Cork now find themselves playing a long waiting game until the 16 teams are confirmed for the All-Ireland, which is due to start at the end of next month.

“I don't know where we are going from here until we see how the competitions pan out. We have a few weeks to lick our wounds, but we have no choice but to get back up on the horse again and see where it takes us because that is the nature of the competition.

“We are going home very disappointed, but the season isn't over yet and hopefully we can right the wrongs that we had in there today.” 

It proved third time lucky for Clare, who lost to Cork twice earlier in the season. “I said during the week that you learn more from defeats and Clare obviously did."